Obama agenda: Talking energy

In addition to his talk with Senate Democrats, "President Barack Obama is meeting with governors from coal-producing states, hoping to earn their support for a languishing energy bill and to bolster his image as a leader willing to work with Republicans as well as Democrats," the AP writes. "Obama planned to announce on Wednesday new steps to increase the role of biofuels in powering the nation and to release a report detailing how Washington could increase investments in green technologies, an administration official said. The president was also expected to discuss so-called clean coal technologies, said the official, who spoke ahead of the announcement only on condition of anonymity."

Also, "With the 2010 Vancouver Olympics drawing closer, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will meet with Cabinet members to discuss crisis responses and other preparations for the Winter Games. Biden, along with his wife, Jill, and members of the president's Cabinet are heading to Vancouver next week to represent the United States at the opening ceremonies."

The Boston Globe front-pages Obama's New Hampshire event. "The setting was reminiscent of an Obama campaign event, with supporters jamming the auditorium, thrusting their cellphones in the air to take photos, and interrupting several times with applause. Some came to be inspired, but others said they just wanted reassurances they were being heard and legislative action would follow politicians' words… While Obama repeated his calls for bipartisanship, his message had a campaign edge and, at times, an accusatory undertone toward Republicans, who have succeeded in holding up health care overhaul, climate change legislation, and other items on Obama's wish list."

The scene outside: "Maybe it was the weather, or the hour, or the lack of parking. But just a few dozen demonstrators waited to greet President Obama along the rotary near Nashua High School North before his town hall yesterday -- a fraction of the hundreds who crowded outside before a similar event last summer in Portsmouth, N.H., when police were herding boisterous sign-wielders into two camps, pro and con. Yesterday, there was plenty of room for everyone, and that made for unlikely neighbors: A 'Don't You Dare Fundamentally Transform Our Great Country' right next to '47 Million Need Help'; a 'Hey GOP: Try Yes for a Change' a few paces from 'Joe Wilson was Right: You Lie and Lie and Lie.'"

The Washington Post frames Obama's NH visit as a way to reconnect with the middle class. "He is a rare president who comes from the middle class, yet people still perceive him as disconnected from it. As he arrived in Nashua, nearly two-thirds of Americans believed that his economic policies had hurt the country or made no difference at all; almost half thought he did not understand their problems. Obama has made it his goal in the past 10 days to convince them otherwise. In Nashua, he hoped to connect with the unemployed despite holding the country's most prestigious job; to disparage Washington politics despite being a product of them; to have a self-described "direct conversation with the folks of New Hampshire" even as bomb squads, Secret Service officers, political dignitaries and television cameras occupied every corner of the room."

The AP: "President Barack Obama's decision not to participate in an annual summit with European Union leaders is feeding doubts about whether Washington views Europe as a strong player on the international stage. The president's decision was announced days before Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who was to host the summit in Madrid, arrives Wednesday on a two-day visit to Washington. Zapatero, whose nation now holds the EU's rotating presidency, was not scheduled to meet with Obama but may have a chance to speak with him at Thursday's annual National Prayer Breakfast, where the Spanish prime minister was to give a Bible reading."